


Foam on the Crest of the Waves

by singingwithoutwords



Series: Foam [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Cultural Differences, Culture Shock, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers, F/M, Humans are (unintentional) Bastards, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Mpreg, Multi, Skinny Steve, Speciesism, and also because cultural differences, cruelty to nonhumans, nonhuman rights campaigning, viewing intelligence species as animals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-19
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-02-25 13:25:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2623310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singingwithoutwords/pseuds/singingwithoutwords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow, Steve didn't expect being dragged to a fashion show to result in his becoming the center of a rights movement for merpeople.  Funny how things work out sometimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, at this point every new WIP is just a desperate cry for help. ^^;

Steve didn't really mind being dragged along to Natasha's shows. He'd probably go to them even if she didn't force him to. Not that he'd ever let her know that; she seemed to enjoy forcing everyone in their group of friends that was taller than her to do things. He might not know much about fashion, but he knew how much his being there meant to Natasha, so he wouldn't have missed it for the world.

The show itself was over for now, and Steve had left Natasha rubbing elbows with some people who were apparently big names in the fashion industry. Sam and Bucky were still with her, to keep her from killing any condescending misogynists she might happen to run into, so he felt safe in wandering now.

Plus, there was a specific exhibit he really wanted to see.

It wasn't every zoo that could boast a single mer, much less an entire nest, but Great South Bay Zoo had managed to get permission and funds for just that last month. Seeing mers on TV was one thing, but Steve wasn't about to pass up the chance to see them in person.

It wasn't hard to find the tank in question- it was huge, taking up most of the new wing all by itself. The wide walkway around the tank was fairly empty, since the zoo was only open to people who'd attended the fashion show today. There were no children with their faces pressed to the glass in wonder, no couples on benches paying more attention to each other than the exhibit- just a few very stylishly-dressed adults here and there. Steve nodded politely to the ones he passed as he approached the tank, but thankfully nobody took it as in invitation to stop and chat.

There was a large screen set against the tank, a general overview of the history of mers and what was known about them as a species, along with photos and the names of the specific mers in the nest: Anthony, Edwin, and James.

Steve scanned the tank, taking in the fake shipwreck, the obviously artificial rock formations – smooth pillars, tumbles of square blocks and arches, perfectly round boulders – and the artfully arranged plants. It was almost like a painting for a heartbeat or two, before movement behind the shipwreck caught Steve's eye and drew his attention to a pale-skinned mer with equally pale blond hair, luminous blue eyes, and a graceful white tail that shaded into pale cyan toward his fin. He brought to mind old tales of how mers were the souls of the drowned, a washed-out ghost of a man lost forever to the sea. The photograph labeled _Edwin_ did absolutely nothing to convey how downright ethereal he looked.

The mer that followed Edwin had to be James, and he could not be more Edwin's opposite if someone had specifically bred them for the comparison. His skin was dark brown to Edwin's ghost pale, his close-cropped hair inky black, and his scales shimmered iridescent black with a bright rainbow sheen. Even their tail fins created contrast, with Edwin's a simple lunate shape and James's more the sort one would expect to see on a Siamese fighting fish, elaborate translucent folds like liquid shadow.

The two were obviously engaged in a game of some sort, with James chasing Edwin in dizzying spirals and loops around, over, and under everything in sight. Steve watched as Edwin twisted beneath a half-fallen archway and around a boulder, snapping his tail inches from James's face. James started back slightly before giving chase again, grinning widely, and Steve couldn't help but smile.

There was no sign of the third mer. Maybe Anthony was sleeping, or just didn't socialize with James and Edwin? Some mers just didn't join in with their nests. The rest of the nest tended to tolerate loners rather than reject them, so it wouldn't be unheard-of.

Steve followed the curve of the tank, trailing his fingers along the cool glass. He fully intended to stay here until one of the others came to get him, memorizing as much as possible and wishing he'd thought to at least bring his sketchbook.

He passed one of the wide metal supports – tanks that large couldn't exactly be free-standing, after all – and found himself staring into a pair of deep black eyes. James had broken off the game, apparently finding Steve more interesting at the moment, and floated just on the other side of the glass with his head cocked to one side and his gills flaring, his whole posture equal parts curious and challenging.

They stared at each other for a heartbeat or two before James pushed back from the tank wall and very deliberately and with evident concentration flipped Steve off with both hands. It was slightly awkward, thanks to the webbing between his fingers, but the message got through.

Someone laughed to Steve's right, and he glanced over to find one of the zoo guards standing next to him.

"He likes you," the guard said, grinning.

"He has a funny way of showing it," Steve said with a polite smile, turning back to the tank. He could see Anthony now, tucked into a rough semi-circle of pillars and blocks near the center of the tank. His skin was a light olive color, his hair as dark as James's but left a few inches longer, and his eyes were a warm and keenly intelligent brown. His scales were what Steve could only describe as hot rod red, patterned with bold splashes of gold, and he looked _very_ unhappy. If Steve was any judge, it was probably something to do with the heavy-looking manacles on his wrists.

James darted across the tank, glaring at Steve and the guard as he circled Anthony almost protectively, joined after a second by Edwin. Edwin didn't glare or seem overtly hostile at all, but Steve still got the chilling impression that if he managed to upset them, he better _hope_ James got to him first.

Steve glanced back at the guard, who caught his confused look and smiled. "Yeah, doesn't make much sense to us, either," he said. "If you didn't know any better, you'd think Tony was a queen and not a male at all."

"Why's he chained up?" Steve asked. It didn't seem humane, or even particularly healthy, but he figured there was probably a reason.

"That one's too clever for his own good," the guard explained. "Used to let him swim free, but he kept getting out of the tank. Almost died twice."

Steve bit his lip to keep from contesting the absurd notion that any mer being held in captivity could 'swim free'. "That's understandable," was all he said, letting the guard make of that what he would.

The guard nodded. "Yeah. None of 'em have been exactly happy since we had to chain him up, but at least he's still alive."

Steve nodded right back. It was probably hard on the nest, given that Tony would be vulnerable in the wild, trapped in one spot as he was, and the whole environment was still pretty new to them all. It was understandable, if a little sad, and a bit of a pity nobody could really explain to them that they were safe here, or why Tony had to be tethered in the first place.

Tony was still watching them, head cocked to the side, almost as if he was following their conversation. Except there was no way for him to hear through the thick glass and all that water, and it wasn't as if mers could actually speak a civilized language, anyway. That didn't stop it from being slightly unnerving, though.

“We're getting some more comfortable restraints in soon,” the guard continued, either unaware of or just not bothered by Tony's staring. “Hopefully before the new mers arrive.”

“New mers?” Steve repeated. He hadn't heard anything about the zoo getting even more.

“Yup. Some fishermen caught a male in the Sound. Not hurt, but scared witless, apparently. We volunteered to take him in since we're closest, see if he meshes with our nest. Then next week we're finally getting a queen.”

“A full nest, huh?” Steve asked, smiling. Wild mers lived in nests that were basically harems, with a single female and her male followers, but captive queens were few and far between. Someone influential must be backing the zoo in order for them to land a female.

The guard nodded, grinning. “It'll be nice to get a queen,” he agreed. “Maybe then they'll stop fawning over Tony. That's all we need, is them forgetting they're supposed to mate with females and not each other.”

“Current studies seem to indicate mers as a species are bisexual.”

Steve, who was used to the way Natasha could appear out of nowhere, wasn't very surprised. The guard looked like he was having a heart attack.

Natasha had that affect on people.

“Hey, Natasha,” Steve said. “Time to go, or did you just get bored?”

“Time to go,” Natasha said. “Bucky's starving and Sam hates buffet food.”

Steve nodded, looking over his shoulder at the mers. He waved good-bye, and Tony grinned sharply, lifting one hand and waving back before letting the chain drag it down again. Neither James nor Edwin seemed to approve.

Natasha grabbed his wrist and dragged him away from the tank, probably aware he wasn't actually going to leave until she did just that.

“So,” he said once they were out of the aquatic wing and heading toward the parking lot, “how did the elbow-rubbing go?”

“Pretty good,” Natasha said. “I handed out a few cards. People were very impressed with them. You might have gotten some business yourself if you'd stuck around.”

Steve shrugged. “I don't want to get famous for designing business cards,” he pointed out. “And I also don't want to steal your spotlight.”

“You're too nice, Rogers,” she accused, like she always did. “If you want to make it as an artist, you're going to have to step on some toes.”

“And I will. Just not toes belonging to friends of mine who can actually kill me.”

Natasha smiled over her shoulder at him. It was a smile that would chill the blood of a man who had never seen her stumbling into walls at 3am wearing nothing but Sam's oversized sweatshirt and muttering to herself about hemlines. “You always say the sweetest things.”

Steve smiled back and let her drag him the rest of the way to the van before abandoning him to suck face with Sam.

“You have an arty look on your face,” Bucky observed as Steve slid into the back of the van, careful not to disturb any of Natasha's supplies.

“He saw mermaids,” Natasha said from the driver's seat. “Buckle up, kiddies.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Steve said, buckling his seatbelt and glaring at Bucky until he did the same. “And they weren't mer _maids_ , they were mer _men_.”

“Merboys,” Natasha challenged, grinning at him in the rearview mirror.

They could have argued all the way home about it, but Steve decided to just let it go for now. “Fine, merboys.”

Natasha's grin got wider, but she didn't say anything more, and Steve settled back in his seat, already planning.

They could stop somewhere nearby for food, then about an hour back to Brooklyn, leaving him plenty of time to get down at least roughs of the images in his head before they faded out on him. Who knew when he'd have the gas money and time to come back.

But he was definitely going to be back. That much, at least, he knew for sure.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Great South Bay Zoo is a zoo I made up out of whole cloth, located on the Great South Bay of Long Island, New York. It is not a real zoo, so please don't wander the southern coast of Long Island looking for it. Look at the Bay instead. It's a very lovely bay.


	2. Chapter 2

The lights overhead went out at last, meaning that the day was finally over and they could sleep.

Rhodey – he would never demean himself by using the stupid name the landwalkers had given him, as if a fully grown wavechild wouldn't already have a name of his own – swam one last patrol around the edge of their prison. He knew he didn't actually need to, that there were no predators that could get at them, but it made him feel better. Like he had at least a little control over his situation.

Rhodey wasn't like Jarvis (again, he refused to use the landwalker name for his nestmate), who'd been stolen when he was still small, or like Tony, who'd been born a prisoner. Rhodey had lived free most of his life. He'd traveled the Widewater and the Pathwater, even dared the Empty once or twice. He'd fought with sharks and had scars from his tangles with landwalkers. He was a warrior, and he wasn't made for this life.

Jarvis swam past Rhodey, brushing against him. Jarvis was one of the wavechildren of the Coldwater, half the vast world away from the waters where Rhodey had been born, but he couldn't have asked for a better nestmate. Jarvis was strong, quiet, and good at caring for the nest, which included ending Rhodey's patrols long before Rhodey would have left them on his own.

Rhodey followed Jarvis back to the center of the prison, where Tony was waiting impatiently. Tony did everything impatiently. It should probably annoy Rhodey, but mostly it just made him smile.

Tony vocalized exasperation, rolling his eyes the way landwalkers did. Even the heavy tethers couldn't slow his hands down very much, but Rhodey had quickly gotten used to how fast Tony could talk when he was excited. And he was very excited right now, which probably meant the landwalkers had said something important.

Tony had spent all his life as a captive of landwalkers, and had learned how to understand their languages. Because landwalkers had to make things difficult and not even all use the same one. Tony knew three of them, and he'd tried teaching Rhodey one, but they'd both gotten too frustrated. Landwalkers vocalized everything. _Everything_. They had perfectly good hands that they never used at all. How was a wavechild supposed to communicate without using his hands? He'd stick to a language that actually made sense, thank you, and leave tracking what landwalkers said to Tony.

- _What took you so long?_ \- Tony demanded. - _I have big news. You left me sitting here alone forever with big news._ -

Jarvis smiled, brushing his tailfin against Tony's arm in apology.

_-What news?-_ Rhodey asked, not wanting to let Tony really start complaining. His arms never seemed to get tired, and once he had momentum, there was no shutting him up.

_-I wasn't done complaining,-_ Tony informed him, rolling his eyes again.

- _I know. What news?_ -

- _You,_ \- Tony signed, - _are no fun._ -

Rhodey vocalized amusement. Jarvis slid against Tony, twining their tails together, but kept his own amusement quiet. Tony made rude landwalker gestures at both of them.

- _I should keep my news to myself,_ \- Tony told them. - _But I'm nice, so I won't. They're bringing more wavechildren here._ -

Jarvis's tailfin flicked in surprise, raising small swirls of sand.

- _They caught one near here, so he'll have to join our nest. I don't know when, but soon. And the other one will be here after._ \- Tony paused, biting his lip, another habit he'd picked up from landwalkers.  _-The other one is female._ -

- _I hope we have enough room for them,_ \- Rhodey signed, glancing around. Even with just the three of them, the prison felt confined. With two more wavechildren taking up space, it would only be even more cramped.

- _We'll make do,_ \- Jarvis assured him, as calm and unruffled as ever.

Tony made soft noises of uncertainty, pressing closer against Jarvis and tugging Rhodey into the huddle. It wasn't quite a proper sleeping cave, but it was the best they'd been allowed to make, so they were grateful to have it.

Rhodey settled himself, loose-limbed and wrapped around both his nestmates, and closed his eyes. Even if everything else in his life was wrong, he at least had Jarvis and Tony.

 

* * *

 

Clint had no idea how long he'd been in this tank. It was smaller than the one the circus had kept him in, and covered with a drop cloth that blocked most of the light. He couldn't see, barely had room to turn in a tight circle, had only the faint sensation of movement to tell him he hadn't been left to rot. He was pretty sure they wouldn't do that- he was an investment. He cost a lot of money. Even if the people who'd caught him didn't want him, they'd sell him to someone who did. That was how humans worked.

He turned in the confines of the tank again, wishing there was something in here to fidget with, at least. He didn't know where he was, how long he'd been in here, or what was going to happen to him now, and he'd kind of like a distraction. At this point, he'd be willing to do whatever stupid tricks the animal tamer wanted, just to have something to  _do_ .

There was a sudden dropping sensation and a clang that reverberated through the tank frame, then the cloth was pulled off and he could see again.

His cramped little tank was on a platform overlooking a much larger tank, inside a building of some sort, bigger than the big top tent. There were a lot of strange humans milling around the edge of the big tank and the platform, but Clint didn't spare them more than a glance, because the tank wasn't empty.

He could see one of his own kind in there, so white they were almost glowing. Clint hadn't met one of his own kind since he was small, when the other mer the circus had was sold off. Clint didn't really miss the guy, but he had missed having someone with him. It got mighty lonely sleeping in a tank by yourself.

Something banged against the grate covering the top of Clint's prison, drawing his attention away from the big tank. They were fiddling with the grate, taking things off, then the whole grate came off.

No grate on his tank. No grate on the big tank. Other mers in the big tank.

Clint darted for the side nearest the big tank and grabbed the edge, hauling himself up and over the lip. After all the damn tricks he'd had to do every night in the circus, his arms were more than strong enough, and he was able to push hard enough to clear the platform entirely.

The next thing he knew was warm, clean, heavenly saltwater closing over him, and the pale white mer smiling at him the way he'd seen humans smiling at their young.

The humans still on the platform, when Clint looked up, seemed to be having some sort of argument, but none of them looked like they were going to come in after him. A few even seemed to be laughing.

Something touched his shoulder, and Clint darted away, lashing out with his tail and catching the white mer in the stomach, which was a hell of a first impression. Not even a full minute in, and he'd already attacked somebody.  Great.

- _Sorry!_ \- Clint signed, backing up further. - _You okay?_ -

- _Yes,_ \- the other mer signed. - _I'm Jarvis. You are?_ -

- _Clint._ \- It was a human name, but then there hadn't been anyone else to name him, and he'd already been Clint by the time they'd dumped him on Barney to be raised. - _Are there others?_ -

Okay, he was eager. Shut up.

Jarvis drifted off toward the center of the tank instead of answering, motioning for Clint to follow him.

The jumble of rocks in the middle of the tank turned out to be something like a shallow cave with no roof, and there were two mers in it. One was flashy red and gold, one dark like an oil spill. The dark one was giving off protective vibes, and the red and gold one was tethered to the ground by one wrist.

Jarvis's hands moved in the corner of Clint's eye, and he turned enough to follow what he was signing.

- _...is Clint. Clint, these are Rhodey and Tony. Rhodey is our-_ some word Clint didn't know _-and Tony is the heart of our nest.-_

Clint tilted his head slightly, eying Tony. Okay, he'd never had an actual nest, but Barney had told him plenty about them, and... - _Aren't hearts supposed to be female?_ -

_-Tony is our heart._ \- Jarvis repeated, and Rhodey's tail smacked against a nearby rock.

_-Tony is the heart. Got it,_ \- Clint agreed, nodding vigorously. The last thing he wanted was to piss off Rhodey.

Tony flicked his tail against Rhodey's hip and signed something too fast for Clint to catch. Whatever it was, it made Rhodey relax a little. Tony then motioned at Clint.

And maybe it was a baby thing, maybe Clint should have made at least a  _little_ effort to not be a needy brat, but... he had a  _nest_ . With a  _heart_ . It probably made him weak that he didn't even hesitate before shoving himself right up against Tony and wrapping around him.

Maybe Barney hadn't known what he was talking about half the time, but one thing he'd gotten right: Clint didn't think he'd ever felt anything close to the peace being held by a heart gave him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I'm having fun with wavechild society and how the upbringing of the wavechildren affects their worldview? Because I totally am.


	3. Chapter 3

It was four days before Clint was willing to let Tony out of his sight. None of them teased him for it- Rhodey remembered very well how he'd been when he'd first joined the nest, and he'd had nests all his life. Jarvis had been part of Tony's nest for years, and had also always had nests before that. Clint had only ever known one other wavechild that he could remember, and that had been a short time, a long time ago.

Frankly, Tony was glad to have those four days. He was pretty sure Rhodey and Jarvis would stand by him no matter what, but it would be a disaster if the landwalkers brought in a female and wound up dividing the nest. There was still a chance that could happen – or that the others would gladly move on to the real thing once they had it – but it was slimmer the more attached to him Clint got. Which was a pretty awful way of looking at things, but Tony had spent more than enough of his life alone- he couldn't do that again, and if the nest decided to make this female the heart...

Yeah, that could not happen.

So Tony very selfishly spent as much time with Clint as Clint wanted, answering his questions and indulging his need to be near Tony while they slept and making damned sure Rhodey and Jarvis didn't tease the poor guy over it. This was _his_ nest, and he was _not_ going to lose it.

 

* * *

 

The fourth day after Clint joined their nest turned out to be a busy one. Right after the morning feeding, one of the landwalkers put on one of those ridiculous underwater suits and jumped in the tank. Rhodey and Jarvis knew better than to attack her, and even Clint just watched while she swam around the tank, keeping a careful distance from all of them.

Tony actually kind of liked when the landwalkers joined them. They wore such interesting things when they spent any time at all in the water, and they had all sorts of little tools and toys that they wouldn't let him touch.

He wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, but she didn't waste any time getting it done, then made some hand gestures that were almost but not quite actual words at the landwalkers up on the platform. One of them lowered a small metal box into the water, and the landwalker female put some of her things in it and made another gesture. The box was pulled back up, and the female turned and started swimming slowly towards Tony.

The others obviously didn't like that, but Tony signaled sharply for them to stay where they were, adding a vocalization of authority when Clint vocalized protest. Jarvis made soothing vocals, and Rhodey wrapped his arms around Clint's torso, just in case. Tony left controlling Clint to the others and gave his full attention to the landwalker.

She was on the smaller side of full-grown, from what he knew of landwalkers, with a great deal of dark hair that fanned behind her in loose loops and eddies. She had a mask that kept the water off her face and a device in her mouth that hissed and streamed clouds of bubbles. She swam pretty well considering she had legs, barely disturbing the sand, and she was holding her hands out empty and open. He'd learned very young that landwalkers did that when they meant no harm, so he stayed still and relaxed for her.

She made a noise like a distorted vocalization of amusement and reached out, touching Tony's hand. He let her pull him a little closer, fiddling with one of the clever little pouches all over her and pulling out a thick, dull gray band about the size of a bracelet. It was just large enough for her to fit his hand through and settle against his arm, where it shifted and tightened like a squid tentacle. She watched it for a moment, then deftly removed the tethers that had kept him in one spot, detaching them from the floor and coiling them around her hand.

Tony looked between her, the thing on his wrist, and the space next to her that he could maybe squeeze through. She moved further out of his way and swept one hand out to the side, as if telling him to go right ahead.

Tony shot out of the sleep cave and into the open, where there were currents and room to stretch his tail out all the way. Wavechildren didn't have what landwalkers called 'religion', but Tony had been taught a bit about Heaven, and he was pretty sure he'd just found his as he bowled right into the other three. By the time he was done demonstrating his new freedom to them, the landwalker female was already out of the water and back on the platform, peeling off her wet clothes. He kind of liked that one- it was almost too bad she wasn't a wavechild herself.

Rhodey nudged against him to get his attention, then slapped him in the side with his tailfin and took off, Clint and Jarvis close behind him.

Tony vocalized indignation that he didn't really feel and gave chase. Even something as simple as being able to play with his nest again was amazing, and he couldn't think of a better way to spend the rest of the day.

 

* * *

 

It was nearly a week before Steve could find the time and money to make it out to the zoo again. All it had taken to convince Natasha to let him borrow her van was the promise that she could have the painting of Edwin he was working on when it was done, so at least that part had been easy.

It was still pretty early when he pulled into the parking lot, and he got a space close to the entrance and got inside without much of a wait, joining the thin crowd of families drifting between animal pens.

The marine house was naturally slightly more crowded than elsewhere, and Steve wound up circling the mer tank twice before he found an open bench, sitting gratefully. He was in better shape than he used to be, but that _really_ wasn't saying much.

It was immediately apparent that Tony was no longer confined to his makeshift cage in the center of the tank. He was in constant motion, flitting from place to place like a giant underwater hummingbird. The only times he was even a little bit still was when he was wrapping himself around one of the other mers, who seemed to mostly ignore his antics and actively enjoy the close physical contact.

There was also a fourth mer in the tank, another male- Steve figured he was the one the guard had told him about last time he'd been here. This one was fair-skinned, though not nearly as pale as Edwin, with a row of bold purple chevrons up either side of his matte black tail and even more muscle mass than James. His body was dotted with scars, some fairly deep and straight and uncomfortably like lash marks. He stuck close to Tony, seeming to make an effort to stay between him and the tank wall and scowling at the people on the other side of the glass. He was behaving almost like a bodyguard, or an overprotective sibling.

Steve slipped his sketchbook out of his bag, along with a pencil, and flipped it to a clean page. He could start with some warm-up sketches of Edwin and James, who were mainly holding still, then move on to trying to capture the bundle of motion that was Tony and his new shadow.

He wound up giving away four 'draw me as a mer!' sketches to three small children and one teenager in the first hour, after which he politely declined all requests. He managed a few good sketches of Tony, and a few group sketches as well, before someone claimed the other end of the bench with a soft groan.

The person who'd sat next to him was a thin woman with dark brown hair and intense blue-gray eyes who, when standing, was probably at least a few inches taller than him. She was dressed in ratty old jeans, sneakers, and a much-too-large Culver U sweatshirt, and she looked tired but content as she stretched her legs out before tucking her feet under the bench. She leaned over slightly, craning her neck, and Steve tilted his sketchbook so she could see the current page more easily. After a few years with Natasha as one of his best friends, he'd overcome embarrassment at others seeing his unfinished work.

“You are very good,” she said. “That's Tony, right?”

Steve nodded, resettling the sketchbook on his lap. “He's an amazing model, even if he won't hold still.”

“He hasn't stopped moving all morning,” she said with a laugh. “It's great to see. Having to keep him cooped up like that was breaking my heart.”

“It probably wasn't too easy on him, either,” Steve couldn't help but point out.

Rather than getting upset, she just smiled ruefully at him. “Touche,” she said. “If you think he's excited now, you should see him when I first took the tethers off. He wore the others out so much they had to take a nap.

“I'm Betty, by the way. I'm one of the marine biologists on call with the zoo.”

“Steve. Very obviously a patron of the zoo.”

“And one hell of an artist. I wish I could afford to commission you.”

“I'm not all that expensive,” Steve protested, grinning. “I'm too nice for my own good and desperate for work.”

Betty grinned back. “Really? Then maybe we can work something out, because I would love to have some pictures of the whole nest, but they're pretty camera-shy. Especially the new guy.”

“He does seem a bit grumpy, not that I really blame him. The guard last week said a fishing boat caught him?”

She nodded. “Got tangled in their nets. From what we can tell, he's domesticated, so we couldn't release him into the wild.”

“The others have accepted him pretty quick, at least.”

“Mers are extremely social creatures, even with other species.” Betty visibly perked up, eyes brightening, and her voice took on an almost lecturing tone. “I've observed mers in the wild – from a distance, of course – and I'd swear they often keep other marine animals as pets. I remember this one male off the coast of Barbados-”

“Not the Barbados Turtle again,” an amused male voice from behind them interrupted.

“I'm telling you, it was a pet,” Betty insisted, scooting over to let a curly-haired man who reminded Steve strongly of a large teddy bear sit next to her. “I never saw one without the other.”

“Mers don't have the equipment to prey on sea turtles,” the man said. “And most of the dangers to sea turtles are also dangerous to mers. It was commensalism at best.”

“It was a pet,” Betty repeated insistently, and the two fell into what was obviously an old, familiar argument. Steve just smiled and turned his attention back to sketching.

 

* * *

 

Once the zoo closed for the day and the visitors had all been shooed out the door, it was time to get to work.

Usually, Betty and Bruce weren't called in at the same time; both of them working meant the zoo had to pay both of them, and there weren't all that many circumstances where the need for two marine biologists outweighed the cost of two marine biologists.

This was one of those few.

Female mers were extremely rare, both in captivity and in the wild. There were less than twenty captive females worldwide, in fact, and Great South Bay would not be getting one if not for that fact that anyone who could actually afford the immense price her rarity demanded had already tried and failed to introduce this one to their own nests. The poor thing had been passed around the globe like an unwanted doll for almost a year now before finally landing in GSB's hands, and they were not going to take chances with her.

The mer in question was a slim, petite thing with flaming ginger hair and pale beige scales. Where a male mer's scales tended to end somewhere in the lower abdominal region, the female's extended up her sides and back, stopping just short of her shoulders. Her chest was flatly androgynous, which Bruce was thankful for; the last thing he wanted was to have to explain to outraged parents that nothing with opposable thumbs could be forced to wear anything she didn't want to.

She'd been named Virginia, after the ship that had accidentally caught her, and she was swimming in tight, restless circles inside the transport tank, radiating displeasure.

“We all set?” Bruce asked, glancing toward where Betty waited in full diving gear on the edge of the platform, ready to get herself between Virginia and any of the males who might be hostile toward her.

“Good to go over here,” Betty replied, giving him a thumbs-up.

“Okay. I don't think she's a jumper like our last one, people, but let's be alert, anyway.” Bruce looked back at the tank, meeting Virginia's glare, and smiled. “Let's hope this nest accepts you,” he said quietly, even though she couldn't hear him and wouldn't understand him even if she could.

Virginia turned away, hitting her tail against the tank wall. Bruce huffed a quiet laugh and stepped back to let the handlers start removing the transport tank grate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone asks: the turtle was a pet. Wavechildren absolutely love having pets of all kinds. There's a nest near New Zealand that keeps pygmy right whales as pets. Most wavechild pets are herbivores, plankton-eaters, and invertebrates, but it's not unheard-of to have toothed whales or even small or crippled sharks as pets.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony swam in jittery, uneven circles, making soft vocalizations of anxiety and distress.  It was setting the rest of the nest on edge, he knew it was, but he couldn't help himself, the noises just came out on their own as he watched the landwalkers fussing with the female up on their platform.  Today was judging day, when he'd have to measure up or lose, and measuring up wasn't something Tony was very good at.  He always lost, that was why his nests were always taken away, and this time he'd have to stay with them and watch them with another heart and maybe if he was very lucky, she'd let him stay in the nest, but it wouldn't be _his_ nest anymore.

Clint bumped up against him, making a soft, deep noise.  Tony didn't know what it was supposed to mean, but Clint bumped against him again and smiled, so Tony smiled back, too wide and too many teeth.  He was such a mess.

The landwalkers stopped milling around overhead.  Some of them moved away from the holding tank, while the others moved closer to it.  Tony remembered what it had been like when they’d first moved him and Rhodey and Jarvis into the big tank, so he was not surprised when, even this far away, he could hear a shrill vocalization of anger and protest.  The female struggled and protested, but eventually found herself in the sling and lifted out of the holding tank.

She wasn’t quite as impatient as Clint, but also not nearly as patient as Jarvis had been, because as soon as the sling was over the big tank and before they’d even started lowering it, she struggled her way free and dove into the water, surfacing to vocalize her displeasure with the landwalkers one last time, accompanied by some very rude gestures.

Tony wished he could like her.

 

* * *

 

Pepper was _not_ happy.  She did not want to be in yet another prison with _yet another_ nest of uncultured and horny males, especially since once it became apparent she had no intention of breeding for her landwalker captors, she’d just be taken away from this nest to repeat the process all over again.  She was tired of this nonsense and she wanted to go home already.

She insulted the landwalkers again and then dove back underwater, pausing to collect herself.  She was _not_ making a very good impression here.

The nest was a pretty big one, apparently, with four males waiting in a group for her by a fake ship.  She supposed they were all handsome enough, with a nice variety to them.  They all looked nervous to one degree or another, and one - red and gold and olive-skinned, with an odd softness to his form that she’d never seen in a male before - seemed downright distressed.

Pepper moved toward them, stopping within comfortable conversational distance.  The distressed male shifted behind the others, almost as if he were... afraid of her?  That was a new reaction.  Usually she had to literally beat males off with her tail.

The powerfully built one and with striking black and purple scales reached over and pulled the distressed one close, twining their tails together and making odd, deep vocalizations that she didn’t know the meaning of.  The one with the shimmering black tail brushed against the red and gold male as well, and Pepper recognized his vocalizations as soothing ones.

The last male, pale as seashells and moonlight, elected himself envoy and moved forward to greet her.

- _Hello,_ \- he signed, accompanied by vocalizations of peace and welcome.  - _I am Jarvis.  It’s a pleasure to meet you._ \-  He had an oddly stiff way of talking that she’s learned meant he’d been stolen fairly young, before he’d been old enough to leave his mother’s nest.

- _Hello, Jarvis._ \- she replied. - _I’m Pepper.  It’s nice to meet you._ \-  There was no harm in being polite for now, after all.

Jarvis nodded, darting to the side to give her a clear view of the others.  - _My nestmates are our sentry Rhodey, our heart Tony, and-_ -

Pepper couldn’t help the sharp vocalization of surprise.  She’d seen a great many nests, both free and captive ones, and had never once encountered a male heart.  Could males even be hearts?  It seemed so… wrong.

The one with the shimmering tail - from the look of him, with his jagged shark-jaw scars, he must be Rhodey - spat a sharp warning.  Jarvis vocalized peace, which only seemed to agitate Rhodey more.

Pepper, not wanting to accidentally goad a sentry into attacking her, vocalized a hasty apology.  A sentry in a proper fighting temper could take on one of the big sharks on his own, and win- she wouldn’t stand a chance if she made him angry with her.  He didn’t look all that mollified, but he did relax his shoulders somewhat and didn’t immediately charge her, so that was something.

- _Our heart Tony,_ \- Jarvis repeated, without so much as a flick of his tail, - _and Clint, who is new to our nest._ -

It wasn’t hard to guess which one was Tony - he was obviously the red and gold one the others were keeping away from her - so the one with black and purple scales who darted around Jarvis to circle her must be Clint.  He was as solid as Rhodey and obviously not timid; he would probably make a good sentry himself when he was older.  He made more of those soft meaningless noises, then slapped his fin against her tail and shot off toward the side of the tank, leaving her at a loss.  She turned to Edwin and vocalized her confusion.  What was that all about?

Edwin smiled.  - _He’s playing with you,_ \- he said.  - _I think he doesn’t know his own strength sometimes._ -

Playing?  Like littles?  How strange.  Still, it wasn’t as though she could go hunting or scavenging in here, so…

Pepper smiled, spinning and darting after Clint.  He was fast, but she was definitely faster.  If he wanted to play tag with her, he was just going to have to get used to losing.

 

* * *

 

Bruce had been keeping his eye as much on Betty as on the mers, and saw her shoulders and spine relax, stepping down from full alert.

“We’re good?” he asked.  He was much better at the squishy physical stuff than mer social cues; that was very much Betty’s area, and he trusted her judgment more than his own.

Betty nodded, beginning to divest herself of her diving gear.  “I don’t think it’s full integration, that’ll probably take a while, but they aren’t rejecting her, at least.”

“Thank goodness,” Bruce said, turning toward the zoo employees still on the platform.  “Let’s keep a close eye on the tank anyway, just in case.”

“You got it,” one said.  “You and Dr. Ross can head out for the night- we’ll call if anything noteworthy happens.”

“Thanks,” Betty said, standing and stretching.  “Because Dr. Banner here owes me a fancy dinner, if I recall.”

“Do you know, Dr. Ross,” Bruce said with a grin, “I think you’re absolutely right.”

“No PDA on the platform,” the employee who’d spoken before said, pointing at the catwalk.  “You know the rules.”

Betty laughed, looping her arm in Bruce’s and pulling him toward said catwalk.  “We’ll go display our affection somewhere more private,” she promised.  “Have a good night, guys!”

They received various absentminded answers as Betty dragged him back to the locker rooms, where she changed into her slacks and blouse and they both collected their things, meeting up again to head for the parking lot.  They’d driven to work together, in the ancient van Betty swore was never going to die on her and that Bruce was fairly certain was possessed, so Betty climbed behind the wheel and Bruce settled in shotgun.

“That’s twice now Edwin’s made first contact,” Bruce said as Betty backed out of her space and headed for the road.  “Is that coincidence, do you think?”

“Not sure,” Betty admitted thoughtfully, frowning at the road.  “You’d think it would be the strongest assessing possible threats.  Maybe James’s protective instincts are just too strong for that.”

“Could be.  I did think for a second we were going to have to separate them.”

“Yeah.  I’m not sure if that’s because he decided Virginia wasn’t a threat, or just because he didn’t want to chance leaving Tony unprotected.”

“I still say it’s weird, the way James acts toward Tony.  It’s not possible he could actually think Tony is a female, is it?”

Betty shook her head.  “Tony might be a bit on the small side, but there’s no mistaking his sex,” she said.  “It could be displacement- I can’t remember if anyone’s caught a mer as old as James, so his instincts would be more reinforced than domesticated mers like Edwin.”

Bruce made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat.  “The new guy took to Tony pretty fast, too,” he couldn’t help pointing out.

“True,” she conceded, sighing, then laughed.  “We are such workaholics.  What do you say we both agree not to mention anything about mers for the rest of the night?”

“I think I can manage that,” he agreed, grinning.  “And I’m sure if I forget myself, you can distract me.”

Betty laughed again, warm and rich.  Bruce really loved her laugh.  “Careful with that kind of talk, Doctor, or we won’t make it to that fancy dinner after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bruce and Betty _would not stop flirting_. You have been married for nine years and I am trying to write a fic here!

**Author's Note:**

> The wonderful liljeconvallaria drew art of [Rhodey](http://liljeconvallaria.tumblr.com/post/131111140119/rhodey-by-convallaria-inspired-by-foam-on-the) and [Jarvis](http://liljeconvallaria.tumblr.com/post/138869082274/never-got-around-to-finish-this-one-meaning-no)! Please check them out.
> 
> As always, feel free to yell at me over on [tumblr](http://singingwithoutwords.tumblr.com/). ^^


End file.
